How on-premise shifts, FinOps, GreenOps, and AI are shaking up IT cost management strategies.
Cloud computing has revolutionised the IT landscape over the past twenty-plus years. Organisation have capitalised on the cloud for its scalability, flexibility, cost savings, and security benefits.
Alongside the positives, however, has come increased pressure on IT leaders to balance high performance with carefully controlled spend and environmental considerations, often across a combination of public and private clouds, and on-premise.
While the promise of cloud continues to deliver, we’re seeing a fascinating new trend take shape. Organisations today are allocating 37% of IT infrastructure spend towards shifting on-premise, in the wake of high-profile security breaches and changes in the relative total cost of ownership (TCO) between cloud and on-premise solutions.
IT teams must consider how best to keep data and assets secure, and save money on the one hand, while embracing innovation on the other. 60% are using AI for IT process automation, but 40% say AI is the top IT cost challenge they’ll face over the next three years.
In the face of this mounting complexity, FinOps has emerged as an essential discipline to help organisations control costs, improve accountability, balance sustainability and align IT investments with business outcomes. Our report reveals more professionals are now being certified in FinOps than in IT Asset Management.
The survey of more than 2,000 IT leaders around the world explores how organisations are using frameworks and strategies, including ITAM, FinOps, GreenOps, and SaaS, to measure, manage, and maximise IT investment, to ultimately increase efficiency and resilience now and into the future.
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Examining where decision-makers are focusing their efforts to maximize IT investments, both today and their plans for the future.
According to the FinOps foundation, FinOps is an operational framework and cultural practice which maximises the business value of cloud and technology, enables timely data-driven decision making, and creates financial accountability through collaboration between engineering, finance, and business teams.
At its core, FinOps is a cultural practice, a way for teams to manage their cloud costs and where everyone takes ownership of their cloud usage supported by a central best-practices group, to enable faster product delivery, while at the same time gaining more financial control and predictability, in a sustainable way.
Organisations with a fully integrated FinOps strategy are far more likely to say AI-driven automation has the greatest impact on IT cost optimisation (61%) than those with no strategy in place (39%) – most likely due to their superior ability to align tech investments with business outcomes.
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How Financial Operations is proliferating across organisations globally, the reasons why businesses are adopting the framework, and how they’re measuring success.
The finance sector’s appetite for innovation compared to other industries is indicated in several areas of IT cost optimisation, including the use of automated tools (71% compared to an average of 62%). Conversely, organisations in the public sector, with their inherent risk aversion and reliance on legacy technology, are most likely to have no formal cost management process at all (19% – double the overall industry average of 8%). Overall, it is more than twice as likely (23%) to say it has no FinOps strategy in place than organisations in other sectors (11%).
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The role of GreenOps in IT cost optimisation and how organisations are meeting their sustainability objectives.
GreenOps is an operating model that integrates technologies and business practices to maximise cloud efficiency while reducing environmental impact. It focuses on optimising resource usage through interventions such as better cooling, greener building materials, and smarter control systems, which are fundamental in data centres. While GreenOps and FinOps share common principles and can be integrated for a more comprehensive IT management approach, GreenOps can also exist as a standalone initiative, driving sustainability beyond financial optimisation.
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How organisations are managing cloud costs, and the drivers influencing existing and planned infrastructure strategies across cloud and on-premise.
US organisations have the most budget allocated to returning to followed by APAC (40%) and EMEA (35%).
Accounting and finance (41%), marketing and sales (41%), and architecture (40%) are the sectors dedicating the most budget here, while pharmaceuticals (32%), law, and professional services (32%) are among those spending the least.
Those in the C-suite say more budget (41%) is assigned to on-premise than those in managerial roles (36%), perhaps due to their responsibilities for the organisation's reputation management.
Scaling cloud capacity is less of a priority for EMEA than other regions: organisations here are allocating 39% of IT infrastructure spend to this activity, compared to 43% in APAC and 47% in the US. One explanation for this could be GDPR or cloud sovereignty issues preventing EMEA firms from shifting workloads at the same rate as other regions.
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How organisations are harnessing AI for better return on IT investment – and what’s holding them back from doing more with this emerging technology.
The introduction of regulations such as the EU AI Act will only increase the pressure on organisations to control its use. Not only that, but having acquired AI tools to gain competitive advantage, organisations are keen to understand how the technology is being used internally, how it can best be optimised (particularly when there is a level of duplication across tool capabilities), and how to control risk when many SaaS vendors have AI capabilities embedded that might access confidential data. FinOps has an important role to play here, not only from a spend management perspective but also in terms of AI governance.
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Now more than ever, business leaders must view their cost decisions as distinct actions to reduce spend, optimize performance and still increase investments in future growth.
IT cost management is, and will likely continue for many years, to be an existential challenge for organisations in today’s complex IT environment. Industry analyst Gartner® states[3].
Our report reveals three notable strategies organisations are adopting to increase efficiency and effectiveness.[3] Gartner®: Cost Optimization Done Right — Even in a Volatile Economy. By Alexander Bant, 28 April 2025
Most are on a journey to FinOps rollout, but those who have moved from ad hoc application to embedded strategy are reaping the most rewards in terms of IT cost management. And while most say their GreenOps initiatives aren’t cost-driven, more sustainable IT practices embedded in the culture will naturally also lower costs through better use of CO2, energy, water, and IT resources.
When a technology is as transformational as AI, the full benefits can only be realised when implementation is considered holistically. New systems must integrate with legacy technology, variable in-house technical skills, existing policies, and evolving regulations. Against this backdrop, those who are orchestrating AI operations across the organisation, with the support of FinOps, stand to gain the . Equally, to increase the efficiency and cost management of FinOps programs themselves, the use of AI will be crucial.
There’s no one-size-fits-all, fixed approach to IT workloads, as the new trend for shifting some back on-premise shows. Rather, the ability to gain a holistic view, implement measurable metrics, and respond to changing circumstances with agility will set the leaders . The on-premise shift is likely to continue, driven by concerns around data sovereignty, compliance, security, and cost increases – plus the desire to avoid cloud vendor lock-in.
Among the top worries for organisations worldwide is preparing for the unknown. Lack of governance controlling spend, cloud cost unpredictability, and rising cloud/ software (also driven by AI adoption) costs unpredictability were among the top challenges for IT cost optimisation over the next years.
And while tools are available to help organisations manage more immediate IT costs, a talent shortage, unfamiliarity with the market, or confusion about how to integrate with existing systems can hamper adoption.
Expert guidance and ongoing optimisation can help organisations get more out of their investments in tools and technology. A trusted partner like SoftwareOne (formerly Crayon) can help lower the known costs, better forecast upcoming budget requirements, and support organisations to get in better shape to respond to the unpredictable and unknown variables of IT management today.
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